That old right hand again...

July 28, 2009 at 2:11 AM

Friend and mentor came over the other night and brought his viola. He played the second violin and the viola parts to the quartet I am preparing and we played several movements together.

He offered an exercise suggestion. It surprised me how mentally difficult it is. He said that I should practice a series of dotted eighths and 16ths by adding a lot of energy (not pressure or speed) to the short note and playing the long note quite softly, almost no bow and with absolutely no accent. I started on open strings. What a mind bender. He said to try it with different bowings. down down, up up then down up down up, etc.

The right hand is definitely the hardest and that is an easy exercise comparatively.

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